Brad Maxwell is a 63 Health and Safety Manager for GJ Gardner Homes in Hamilton. He has had a very active life, he served in the Merchant Navy for 9 years traveling around the world before settling in New Zealand in 1983. He entered real estate in 1984 in Christchurch until 2012 when as a result of the Christchurch earthquakes he changed careers and retrained as a health and safety adviser. Outside of work Brad has been involved in football for some 30+ years as a player, coach, team manager, Club President, and a qualified referee. He was also a tpp smallbore shooter for Canterbury, before moving to Auckland in 2016 for work. He is married to Janice they have 2 adult married son's and a 3-year-old granddaughter that keeps them busy grandparents.

Brad has been a flagbearer for the Merchant Navy for the past 25 years at Anzac parades in both Auckland and Christchurch. 

His story is somewhat different to many kidney transplant patients in that in his journey he also required a combined liver transplant. The double transplant happened over 16 hours of surgery on the 30^th & 31^st December 2022, here is his story.

• In 2018 Brad undertook his regular workplace health check at which time it was found he had high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, following the advice from the Workplace Nurse, he visited his GP, and underwent a thorough health and blood checks.
• One of the tests done was Kidney Function, and to everyone’s surprise it came back to show his function was at 60%. Having no external symptoms anything was wrong his GP went further to try and find the cause of the loss of kidney function.
• After many months of investigation in 2019 a blood sample was sent up to Auckland University labs and after extensive testing under the guidance of Prof Ed Gane, Brad was diagnosed with a rare hereditary genetic condition known as Amyloidosis Fibrogen Alpha.
• This is a condition where Brad’s liver produce abnormal protein cells which went on to attack his kidney’s. Over the next 12-18 months Brad’s kidney function deteriorated down to 15%.
• With regular check ups at both Liver & Kidney clinics in South Auckland in 2021 Brad was advised that his options moving forward would be kidney dialysis and later on a kidney transplant.
• At the same time his case was referred to the International Amyloidosis Centre in London, England. Prof Gane is New Zealand’s leading authority on Amyloidosis and works very closely with the London Centre.
• His case was discussed at a senior level and it was initially thought he would be a good candidate for Genetic testing and possible being added to a gene editing program if it became available before transplant.
• This gave Brad great hope that he might be able to be part of the trial, however as his kidney function continued to decline, that option soon disappeared.
• As Brad’s condition continued to decline, dialysis was discussed, and then the advice from London was that a combined Liver & Kidney transplant was the best option for long term recovery, as with just a kidney transplant his existing liver would continue to produce the abnormal protein cells, which would likely destroy the new kidney.
• In mid 2022 the decision was made with his Kidney function now down to 7% that he would undergo transplant test, blood and tissue typing a preparation for dialysis.
• Brad managed to continue working throughout 2022, but knew his health was starting to have an impact on him, being able to climb scaffold had gone, and even the stairs at the office left him breathless towards the end.
• In August 2022 he was placed on the combined transplant list for a deceased donor transplant.
• Early December 2022 he started on kidney dialysis, 3 times a week 4  hours a day, this impacted further on his work, and as the company broke up for Christmas 2022 the possibility of him not returning to work in 2023 was on the cards.
• Having accepted things were changing Brad went into Christmas with his family very uncertain of the future, but then at 9pm December 29^th 2022, Bradreceived the phone call that would change his life forever.
• “An almost perfect match” donor had been found and he needed to go immediately to Auckland Hospital for his double organ transplant.
• This took place over 16 hours on the 30^th & 31^st December 2022.
• It took 2 dedicated surgical teams working throughout the night to perform the double transplant, first was the liver, followed by the kidney team.
• Unfortunately it didn’t go with incident, an emergency Splenectomy had to be performed, together with a collapsed left lung, and a few other issue, the Liver team had to work hard to save his life during surgery. The kidney transplant went very well.
• Rather than spending a few days in ICU and then onto the transplant ward for recovery of upto 2 weeks because of the double transplant, Brad spent a total of 14 days in ICU and initially 7½ weeks on the ward. Unfortunately again he suffered an number of live threatening complications with multiple infections around the liver and stomach areas, he lost a lot of muscle and strength, and had to learn to walk again.
• Due to his post-op issues he was placed on to Ketamine a heavy sedative which caused further issues for Brad in the way of hallucinations and delirium, during which Brad suffered substantially frightening episodes.
• Middle of February Brad was released home from hospital, but a few days later was readmitted to hospital very unwell with fevers and significant pain. This happened multiple times during February, March, April & May, which resulted in Brad spending close to 110 days in hospital, under the care of either the Liver and or Kidney transplant team. Now in June 2023 he has returned home and has slowly been able to return to part time work within his previous role which his employer had kept open for him all this time.

Brad clearly say’s that the donor organs have taken very very well, and are functioning better than expected despite the medical issues we went through post-op.

“The care and attention I received from absolutely everyone involved has been stunning, whether it was from the cleaning and food teams, to orderlies and technicians, physio’s and psychologists, nurses, doctors, surgeons, I am extremely proud of our health system personnel, no matter what time of day or night I needed care it was there, I got to know the staff very well, and they treated me with absolute respect and dignity, I love each and everyone of them”.

“Whilst my case is an extreme example, I was able to witness many other kidney transplant patients who came through at the same time as me, bounced back very quickly, within a couple of days they were up and walking about, then going to clinic soon afterwards, and many discharged back to their local health practitioners within 10 days of surgery, many saying they’d never felt better. Some had been on dialysis for many years, and were looking forward to the new found freedom they’d get following transplant”. Says Brad.

My experience has changed me, not only am I able to return to work, and enjoy my family, but I also have a new family to think about, the donor family who lost a loved one at Christmas, but gave me not one gift but two very special gifts of life, which I treasure with every breathe.

Written by Brad Maxwell